Calstart Organization

Calstart, a Burbank-based consortium that is trying to create an advanced transportation industry in the state, announced several new demonstration projects. The programs are part of a $5.5-million partnership between Calstart and the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency. Nine California companies are also participants.

CALSTART, a Burbank-based transportation technology consortium, will become the first tenant at Ventura County's fledgling Cal State University campus. Under a 10-year lease expected to be signed today, CALSTART will move part of its operation into a 26,000-square-foot building on the west end of the campus planned for the shuttered Camarillo State Hospital complex.

Joseph LaStella makes an unusual product in an unusual place. LaStella's company, Battery Automated Transportation International, produces electric cars and bicycles in the high-ceiling hollows of an old Lockheed factory in Burbank that is now home to Calstart, a public-private consortium devoted to nurturing an advanced transportation industry in California. There, Calstart operates Project Hatchery, a so-called "business incubator" that helps companies get a start in business.

Two Ventura County companies will take part in a $5.5-million project backed by the Calstart transportation consortium and the Defense Department to develop a new generation of hybrid electric vehicles. The companies--U.S. Flywheel Systems of Newbury Park and APS Systems of Oxnard--will help test high-powered "flywheel" batteries, which store energy in a spinning wheel and release it as needed to power electric cars.

CALSTART, a Burbank-based transportation technology consortium, will become the first tenant at Ventura County's fledgling Cal State University campus. Under a 10-year lease expected to be signed today, CALSTART will move part of its operation into a 26,000-square-foot building on the west end of the campus planned for the shuttered Camarillo State Hospital complex.

State lawmakers have awarded $300,000 to a Burbank-based consortium of government agencies and private businesses to develop a prototype of a 40-foot-long bus powered by electricity and natural gas. Assemblyman James Rogan (R-Glendale), and Sen. Newton Russell (R-Glendale), announced the grant on Wednesday, to be given to CALSTART, a statewide agency representing 80 utilities, vehicle manufacturers and defense companies.

A Burbank consortium formed to promote the production of electric cars has won a $1.8-million state contract to train workers to shift aerospace and defense companies into the production of advanced transportation projects, such as electric vehicles, consortium officials said.

A Burbank consortium formed to promote the production of electric cars has won a $1.8-million state contract to train workers to shift aerospace and defense companies into the production of advanced transportation projects, such as electric vehicles, consortium officials said this week.

Calstart Awarded $1.8-Million Retraining Grant: Funded by California's employment training tax, the contract will pay for retraining up to 335 workers to help them make a transition from defense and aerospace work to such new industries as manufacturing parts for electric cars.

The Burbank City Council has approved a $110,000 loan to fix up an abandoned Lockheed building to serve as the headquarters of a consortium that hopes to found an electric car industry on the resources of the troubled aerospace business.

Calstart, a Burbank-based consortium that is trying to create an advanced transportation industry in the state, announced several new demonstration projects. The programs are part of a $5.5-million partnership between Calstart and the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency. Nine California companies are also participants.

Joseph LaStella makes an unusual product in an unusual place. LaStella's company, Battery Automated Transportation International, produces electric cars and bicycles in the high-ceiling hollows of an old Lockheed factory in Burbank that is now home to Calstart, a public-private consortium devoted to nurturing an advanced transportation industry in California. There, Calstart operates Project Hatchery, a so-called "business incubator" that helps companies get a start in business.

Truth is, a great new industry in advanced, pollution-free transportation is emerging in Southern California. "By 2010, I would expect you to be able routinely to purchase a vehicle, probably a hybrid [engine powered by electricity and gasoline] that will have energy efficiency equal to 100 miles per gallon," says Paul MacCready, chairman of AeroVironment Inc., a pioneering Monrovia company. But as the old saying goes, "In war, the first casualty is truth."

State lawmakers have awarded $300,000 to a Burbank-based consortium of government agencies and private businesses to develop a prototype of a 40-foot-long bus powered by electricity and natural gas. Assemblyman James Rogan (R-Glendale), and Sen. Newton Russell (R-Glendale), announced the grant on Wednesday, to be given to CALSTART, a statewide agency representing 80 utilities, vehicle manufacturers and defense companies.

With U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer looking on approvingly, Calstart--the Burbank-based consortium dedicated to fostering an advanced transportation industry in the state--Monday unveiled a radar-like device that could eventually help prevent collisions and smooth the flow of traffic. If all goes according to plan, sensors the size of computer chips may be built into car bodies within three years that will beep to alert motorists to objects--such as people and other cars--in close range.

In an unusual show of unity, the entire 52-member California congressional delegation has backed a Burbank-based consortium's request for federal funding to develop an advanced transit industry in Southern California. In a letter to the federal Defense Technology Conversion Council, the state's congressional representatives unanimously supported CALSTART's bid for up to $30 million to fund 21 advanced, clean-air transportation programs.

It may travel the world in the next year, but the electric vehicle unveiled Tuesday by a Burbank-based consortium of private firms and public agencies will probably never wear out its tires. Although it can run, the light blue, teardrop-shaped vehicle is a "showcase" model that will be used only to demonstrate its various high-tech components at auto shows from Geneva to Tokyo. In short, it will probably never be stuck in a 9 a.m.

Edison Manager Resigns From Calstart Team: As part of a "routine review" of Southern California Edison's relationship with the Burbank-based consortium, Stanley R. Wright will resign as chief financial officer of Calstart effective today. "Now that Calstart is pretty much on its own, and has its funding in place," Wright said, "we don't have to spend as much time over there. . . . Edison is still a strong supporter of Calstart."

State Gives $3.6 Million to Calstart Projects: The Governor's Council on Defense Conversion and Technology will either fund or endorse 13 projects proposed through the Calstart consortium, the public-private effort to promote a transportation manufacturing industry in California. The projects run from fuel cells being developed by Torrance-based Aerojet Corp. to advanced batteries by Trojan Battery Co. of Santa Fe Springs, to a new UCLA degree program in advanced transportation manufacturing.